Martin Luther King Jr. service brings out the power of love in Summit

To the Editor:
For Summit’s Martin Luther King Jr., Day of Service, my 9-year-old daughter and I participated in Shaping Summit Together’s scheduled event of distributing coffee and warm coats to day laborers awaiting work in the vicinity of Park Avenue and Ashwood Avenue, a couple of blocks from our home.

In advance of the event, I let a few people know that I was collecting winter coats and that they could be dropped off at our home any time prior to the event. I was pleased to have a number of people call to say that they had coats to donate and would be bringing them by. However, I was deeply disturbed and saddened to also receive an anonymous and menacing letter suggesting that it might be better if we did not participate in such an event.

The letter was presumably sent on behalf of a group of people who were not at all happy with our choice to participate in this event. I was astounded, having never in my life been on the receiving end of such a premeditated and carefully thought out message of hate and intimidation. Certainly everyone is entitled to their views, but I was deeply troubled by the likelihood that I know this person, that they may in fact be the parent of one of my daughter’s classmates, and they chose this method of communicating with me rather than simply engage me in a reasonable dialog about their views. The impact of the letter on me has been to redouble my resolve to confront the racism at its root. It tells me, sadly, that the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., is far from done.

I am so proud to live in a community that celebrates the life of Dr. King each year by encouraging each of us to engage ourselves in actions that promote tolerance, understanding, generosity, and kindness. Our family has participated in the Martin Luther King Day Jr., of Service every year, and we consider it to be Summit at its very best. I know in my heart that I am doing the right thing when I offer a cup of coffee to these men, or when I see them put on the warm coat that many of us take for granted. I know that it is by a mere fluke of fate that I was born on this side of an arbitrary man-made geographic line. I know I am privileged and I consider it my duty as a human being to share my good fortune with others.

I will, in Dr. King’s words, continue to “meet of the forces hate with the power of love” every chance I get. Thank you Shaping Summit Together for giving me the chance every year on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service to put my thoughts into action.